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Fountain pen - recommendations

I got a great new pen. Its a Lamy, German made, very well engineered. Good price (45 quid). Lovely to hold, no leakage, writes beautifully, better than a Mont Blanc.
 
TopCat said:
I got a great new pen. Its a Lamy, German made, very well engineered. Good price (45 quid). Lovely to hold, no leakage, writes beautifully, better than a Mont Blanc.
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Is it a lamy Studio? They are, indeed, very nice pens, and lovely (and reliable) writers.
 
FridgeMagnet said:
Well this arrived yesterday.

It comes in the loveliest box ever, with a 30ml bottle of evil fluorescent ink. It actually also works very well indeed. Even the fat nib is narrower than standard highlighters, and more precise, and the ink is like the brightest of bright ink highlighters just after you uncap it, but _all the time_ - it will never partially dry out and be a bit miserable, and you can see the ink level all the time.

It would be an excellent present for somebody who did a lot of highlighting and liked pens. I don't think they've not made a vast number of them but then, I don't imagine they sell very many either, so stocks should last for a while.

(Also, as people asked me, yes you can load it with any ink, and you can also swap the nib out too very easily - Pelikan nibs come from EF to BB.)
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Are you still using it?

Out of curious curiosity?
 
FridgeMagnet said:
Well, when I want to highlight things, yes. To be honest I don't really highlight a lot of things, but when I do, I use the Duo.
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Ah.

I've been doing a bit of highlighting recently.

But tbf, that's quite rare.

And it's probably take about 10yrs for the pen to become cost effective.

:hmm:
 
ViolentPanda said:
Nope. Tried looking myself a few weeks ago, tried the UK, France, Belgium and Germany, and couldn't find a fucking thing. The Writing Desk (the main place I've seen them) no longer import Noodler's inks, and very few places have ever sold Noodler's pens.

I've resigned myself to having to import a Noodler's pen if I want one, and swallowing the import duty if it gets tagged by Customs.
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http://www.pelikanpens.co.uk/acatalog/Inks___Refills.html

Inks, not pens. Think that's where mine came from. Just rediscovered it whilst browsing.
 
mrs quoad said:
Ah.

I've been doing a bit of highlighting recently.

But tbf, that's quite rare.

And it's probably take about 10yrs for the pen to become cost effective.

:hmm:
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How long will it take the Nakaya to become cost effective?

If you want a spurious cost-efficiency argument, you could say that actually even if you don't use highlighters very often, the normal ones dry out easily and need replacing on a regular basis whether they're used or not, whereas highlighter ink in a bottle keeps indefinitely (and the pen itself doesn't even need refilling often). I'm not saying that's a bulletproof argument but you don't need to believe it _fully_ to go over the edge.
 
FridgeMagnet said:
How long will it take the Nakaya to become cost effective?

If you want a spurious cost-efficiency argument, you could say that actually even if you don't use highlighters very often, the normal ones dry out easily and need replacing on a regular basis whether they're used or not, whereas highlighter ink in a bottle keeps indefinitely (and the pen itself doesn't even need refilling often). I'm not saying that's a bulletproof argument but you don't need to believe it _fully_ to go over the edge.
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Is it substantially nicer to use than a highlighter?

Like, substantially?

e2a: rather deterred: http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/168164-pelikan-m205-duo-highlighter-ink/
 
mrs quoad said:
Is it substantially nicer to use than a highlighter?

Like, substantially?

e2a: rather deterred: http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/168164-pelikan-m205-duo-highlighter-ink/
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I think you know what I am likely to say here. I think you want me to say it, too. :hmm:

It's not particularly good for putting big blocks of yellow over whole words and colouring in areas - the nib is too narrow for that, it would take ages. What it is good for is underlining, circling, drawing arrows etc and also some short writing, for which it is a lot better than a normal highlighter of course, having a proper nib.

The reason I don't highlight a lot of stuff is because (a) I often write in quite poor light where highlighter ink of any sort is hard to see, and (b) I'm usually editing or annotating and want to write things, for which highlighter ink is not good at all. I normally use a fine nibbed Wality eyedropper with Noodler's Empire Red in it, in practice. But if I actually do want to highlight things this works for me.

(oh, you can also load it with normal ink if you fancy doing so)

Does it perform radically better and do a hugely different job to a normal highlighter? Not really tbh. Is it nicer to use? Yes, within the above parameters.
 
tbf, I think you've clarified that I won't be getting one, appealing though it is. So thank you, FM.

On another note, I got through some Sailor's jentle apricot this morning.

BLOODY HELL. This is my new favourite ink, ever. It flows like Noodlers without the... seeming density / thickness... of Noodlers.

81d3ef8e.jpg


In other news, I need to work on my uprights :D And everything else :D

But I'll def be putting some Sailor's jentle (of various colours) on my thoughts-for-birthday-presents mental list.
 
any suggestions on what to do about a scratchy nib. replace?

i got a very cheap wearever pen of ebay with the intention that i coud either use it as a practice taking pens apart or let my lass use it. nib feels like i'm writing on a blackboard with a hard pencil.
 
toggle said:
any suggestions on what to do about a scratchy nib. replace?

i got a very cheap wearever pen of ebay with the intention that i coud either use it as a practice taking pens apart or let my lass use it. nib feels like i'm writing on a blackboard with a hard pencil.
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What does it look like through a loupe? Is the tipping intact? Tines level? It might be that you can fix it with a bit of micro- mesh.
 
FridgeMagnet said:
(oh, you can also load it with normal ink if you fancy doing so)

Does it perform radically better and do a hugely different job to a normal highlighter? Not really tbh. Is it nicer to use? Yes, within the above parameters.
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"If you do find you don’t get on with the BB feel free to do a nib exchange for an EF (or whatever else you may fancy)"

That's that sold, then :D
 
An addendum: Sailor's jentle ink appears to write like parched, cracked donkey balls with an EF nib. Stonkingly lush and vibrant on phat dip pen lines, minchy and anaemic dilute tangerine through EF.

Minor disappointment. I'm seeing if I can phatten the flow with phlushing and surphactants.
 
FridgeMagnet said:
highlighter ink in a bottle keeps indefinitely (and the pen itself doesn't even need refilling often).
Click to expand...
it's just arrived. The ink is tremendously odd, isn't it? Feels closer to applying tipp-ex or thin paint than a conventional ink :hmm:

e2a: think I'm going for a nib swap. It's borderline hopeless as a highlighter (well, it works, but takes about 3 times as long as a... highlighter...), and it's too fat for writing with. I've taken to using the reverse side of the nib, which seems a ridiculously messy compromise given it's a half-day-old pen. Anything from an EF to an M would serve extremely well for writing AND circling, etc, with the fluorescent ink.

I just don't... really... get what purpose is served by the BB. It turns the pen into (IMO) a half-arsed highlighter OR a really fat writer, without serving (for me) either of those functions at all well.

e2a2: I've gotten through 3/4 of a barrel of ink today, mind. The nib is utterly lush; the piston filler and chamber cracking; and the pen is awesome. But I don't think me and that nib'll ever get along, purely because of its width. Maybe if it was a music nib, or summat...?
 
The M205 is back with an EF, and writing smoother / nicer than just about any other comparable pen I own.

Well. It's got a far, far nicer ink flow than the Lamy 2000 (which is apparently £60-70 at Smiths ATM?!). And is a bucket fatter than a Sailor Sapporo EF, but tbh I'm liking it as much if not more.

I'm struggling to find an ink to put in it, mind :hmm: Fainter inks are almost shading - losing nearly all their colour at the edges. A cochineal red is coming out pink; Jentle apricot as light pink-orange.

Black is weird in a yellow demonstrator. Sapphire blue is just shit. Oxblood - maybe. Brown pigment ink v tempting, but I'm frightened I'll fuck the pen.

I'd appreciate any thoughts about lighter, non-shading inks if anyone's got any favourites? Even well-defined bottled highlighter ink, tbh. Particularly if it's pink.
 
Athos said:
Got an email from Nakaya, this morning. Pen's on its way.
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Just think.
When you're on your deathbed, in many decades time, and you reach for the bedside drawer, pull out your Nakaya and say "I want you to have this to remember me by" to one of your progeny, your offspring will gaze fondly at you, take the pen and say:

"I'd have rather that you'd put the cost of the pen in my college fund, dad, then I wouldn't have had to go to Keele."

;)
 
ViolentPanda said:
Just think.
When you're on your deathbed, in many decades time, and you reach for the bedside drawer, pull out your Nakaya and say "I want you to have this to remember me by" to one of your progeny, your offspring will gaze fondly at you, take the pen and say: So . . . Ahhh!!! Like, how to do you use this thing then Pops - what's it for
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With Athos's luck, even the compatible ink for it will be obsolete and unobtainable by then anyway.
 
Greebo said:
With Athos's luck, even the compatible ink for it will be obsolete and unobtainable by then anyway.
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I'm sure that Athos's would have a substantial stock of suitable ink - in a variety of colours - and different nibs as well
 
mrs quoad said:
Athos sneers at Fimo inkwells and the proud and lovingly crafted artworks of innocent children, and you call me pernickety? :eek:
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Counts off on fingers all the things about which you have strong preferences:
Pens, nibs, ink colour, ink flow, ink opacity, coffee, the grind of coffee beans, the roast of coffee beans, food, not being heard relieving yourself in a room adjacent to workmen... Need I go on? Those are just the ones which immediately spring to mind, I'm sure that there are more. :hmm:
 
Greebo said:
Counts off on fingers all the things about which you have strong preferences:
Pens, nibs, ink colour, ink flow, ink opacity, coffee, the grind of coffee beans, the roast of coffee beans, food, not being heard relieving yourself in a room adjacent to workmen... Need I go on? Those are just the ones which immediately spring to mind, I'm sure that there are more. :hmm:
Click to expand...
So coffee and pens, basically? :D Though I'd tend (always?) to be quite specific that that's wrt my own preferences, anyone else is more than welcome to their own taste.

And the artworks of innocent children are always to be prized!

(Workmen? :hmm: That one temporarily eludes me...)
 
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